Letter XVI

'Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that "suits" him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches...

'...the search for a "suitable" church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil. What He wants of the layman in church is an attitude which may, indeed, be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false or unhelpful, but which is wholly uncritical in the sense that it does not appraise--does not waste time in thinking about what it rejects, but lays itself open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment that is going.' (Screwtape Letters XVI)

It's individualistic consumerism of the spiritual/ecclesial. This hit me in two ways: 1. How often I have been a connoisseur so as to critique or discard things I do not have a "taste" for in a service; 2. How even if what I was critiquing was "false" or "unhelpful" I have "wasted time in thinking about" it.

If you look for what is wrong, you'll probably find it, but in so doing, are you going to miss what is right?